Nine Lives
by Flowers of Moss
Summary: Alex encounters death...it doesn't seem to stick very well. Just something of a first draft of a really random story idea. Read and tell me what you think, any changes that I should make, improvements, you know.


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Nine Lives

By Flowers of Moss

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Alex warped into Sol Sanctum. Looking around, he could see his companions, the Proxians and Felix standing on the main platform with two others. Behind him, he saw two young boys on another platform, looking rather shocked.

"Alex!" Menardi shouted. "What in Weyard took you so long?" Alex shuffled his feet. "Err…" he said, not wanting to tell Menardi that he had been stealing cookies from houses in Vale.

"No matter," she said, then addressed the two boys behind him. "Give the stars to Alex." Alex turned carefully on the slippery platform that overlooked a bottomless pit. He smirked at the boys, and held out his hand. The blond boy glared at him, then drew his arm back ask if to throw the stars. "Catch."

"No, wait!" Alex cried as the stars flew past him through the air. He leapt from the platform in an attempt to grab the stars. Just as he wrapped his hands around them, he realized something was wrong. He looked down. He screamed and fell.

Menardi slapped her forehead. "Oh, great." She turned to Saturos. "Now what?" He shrugged. "Meh. Just get the last star." He motioned to Isaac and Garet to get moving.

As they grabbed the Mars Star, the volcano erupted, and the Proxians and their hostages ran for their lives. After escaping from the village, Menardi look at Saturos and said, "Now what? We managed to get exactly zero Elemental Stars." She scowled. "Total failure."

"Well, we did manage to get two hostages…" Saturos ventured. "Pah!" snorted Menardi, then a blur of blue fell from the sky and landed on the ground with a thud. The group crowded around the body on the ground.

Alex slowly opened his eyes. Things were a bit blurry. _What happened?_ He tried to move and realized that his limbs weren't responding well. He felt someone poking his side, so he grunted. Then he noticed he was clutching something in his hands and attempted to pry his hands from whatever he was holding. They were sticking like superglue. _Oh well, _he thought. _Might as well go back to sleep._ He closed his eyes.

The next thing he felt was a sharp stinging across he face. He shot up to his feet, dropping the Elemental Stars he had been holding with a death grip. Felix scrambled to get them. Everything came back into focus. He looked himself over. Everything seemed to be intact. Apparently, falling down a bottomless pit wasn't a good way to get yourself killed. Then he realized Menardi was screaming at him. "-careless! What a moron!" Saturos was trying to calm her down. "At least he brought us three of the Elemental Stars." Alex grinned at them, trying to act innocent. "Of course, I had this planned all along!" Menardi snorted, and stalked off.

---

Alex stood behind the beacon of the Mercury Lighthouse, watching Saturos battle the four young Adepts. _Saturos had better win, or else I'm in big trouble, _he thought. Then Saturos collapsed. The blond-haired boy raised his sword as if to finish him off, then stopped and stepped away. "Finish me…" Saturos croaked. _Uh oh…_

Alex warped over to Saturos and quickly healed him enough so that he could stand. Then he looked up and saw her. Mia was looked surprised to see him, but her look of surprise quickly turned to rage. "Why, you dirty little-" she stopped short, snatched Isaac's sword, ran up to Alex and drove the sword into his chest. He looked down at the long stick of metal protruding from him and staggered back a few steps. His last step didn't land on anything. He fell from the lighthouse. All five remaining in the aerie hurried to the side and looked down. "Man…" Isaac pouted. "That was my favorite sword, too. Mia, you owe me a new one!"

The four watched Saturos stagger over to the elevator and disappear.

Alex opened his eyes. _Again?_ He noticed something felt funny, and looked towards his feet. He removed the sword from his chest and staggered to his feet. He examined himself. Nothing seemed wrong. He looked at his surroundings and noticed that he was standing at the base of the lighthouse. "Well, how about that," he mumbled to himself, then shrugged and hurried off to find Menardi.

When he found his companions, he saw that Saturos had also caught up. "Ah, Saturos. I see you are alive and well." Saturos gaped at him. Menardi examined him for a moment, then looked at Saturos. "I thought you said he was dead. That he fell off the lighthouse with a sword in him!" Saturos just stood and gaped. Alex shrugged. "It didn't take."

---

"Hurry, Jenna," Alex urged as they raced through the corridors of the Venus Lighthouse. "We don't want to be here when the beacon is lit." Kraden huffed as he struggled to keep up with the two others. They burst out into the sunlight and slowed to a walking pace as the birds searching for food on the ground scattered. "Whew," said Kraden. As they approached the road in front of the lighthouse, they heard voices. They didn't sound friendly. "Hey! That's them!" Suddenly, they were surrounded by Tolbi soldiers and lighthouse workers. "They don't look so tough!" said one of the soldiers.

Alex laughed and said, "Don't worry, Jenna, I'll take care of these soldiers. You go the other direction and make your way to the meeting point." Jenna nodded and turned towards the workmen, preparing for battle. Then, they started to look terrified, and scattered, tripping over each other. Jenna laughed, "Haha, I guess I'm pretty scary, huh?" Then she turned and saw what Alex was doing. He had created a geyser and blew several of the guards into oblivion. "Oh…" she mumbled, embarrassed. Alex smiled at Jenna and motioned her and Kraden to go. Then he turned on the remaining soldiers. "You mentioned replacements?" The soldiers turned and ran. He walked along the path, following them towards Lalivero.

As he got closer to the city, he noticed little stinging sensations all over his body. He looked down at himself and saw himself a pincushion of arrows. "Oh, dear…" he said as one arrow hit him and the face and he fell to the ground.

A group of Tolbi soldiers crowded around the prone figure. "You think he's dead?" one asked. Another one prodded Alex in the side and nodded. "Yea, I think so. He's not moving." The first one wiped his forehead. "That's a relief. Let's get back to the lighthouse and wait for those other guys." The soldiers left, leaving Alex on the ground where he fell.

Alex didn't open his eyes this time. _Uhhn, I'm going to have to pull all those arrows out. _He slowly clambered to his feet and started removing arrows from himself. When he thought he managed to get them all, he headed off to meet Jenna and Kraden.

As he approached them, he saw them searching around the ship for something. "Jenna! Kraden! What's going on?" he asked. The two of the them stopped and stared at Alex. "What? What is it?" he demanded. But they just stared at him. "Is there something on my face?"

Jenna nodded. "Yea…yea, there's an arrow in your face." Alex went cross-eyed trying to see the stray arrow. "Hmph," he said, as he grabbed hold of it and pulled it out. "Problem solved." Jenna just gaped at him.

---

Alex woke to find Felix standing over him. "Urg, what is it, Felix?" he grumbled as he rolled onto his back. "Our island…is it…floating around in the ocean?" Alex sat up. "Yes, that seems to be the case. Have you seen any land nearby?" Felix looked around on the horizon. "Only that big continent over there." Alex leapt to his feet, alert. "What? Where?" Felix pointed off to the south.

"Oh good, we're not going to hit it." He paused for a moment. "Wait…that's bad! Can't anyone steer this thing?" he cried. Then they heard Jenna and Sheba scream. "TIDAL WAVE!" _Uh, oh._

The girls and Kraden went racing past Felix and Alex toward the far side of the island. Felix looked at Alex and shrugged. "It's not like we can outrun the thing…" he said. Alex nodded in agreement. The stood and watched the enormous wave loom over them, then crash down onto them.

Alex found himself floating facedown in the ocean. _Man, I'm a Mercury Adept, and I just drowned. How embarrassing_, he thought. He lifted his head out of the water, and swam for shore. When he finally reached it, he stopped to cough up all the water that was in his lungs. There seemed to be a lot more of it than there ought to be.

When he was finally able to breath air again, he stood and looked around, seeing a village nearby. He walked into it. After asking around for the location of the mayor, he finally found the house and knocked. The door opened to reveal a frightened young woman. He smiled at her, trying to gain entry to the house. "Y-you look a little blue, s-sir," she sputtered. He tried to give her his best grin. "Just got a little wet. Tidal wave and all. You know."

After entering the house, he talked with the mayor at great length, trying to convince the man to give him a ship. It wasn't working. He claimed to have no ship to give, which Alex found unlikely, but he finally gave up. As he left the house, he ran into Felix, Jenna, and Sheba. The girls looked angry. "How rude, Alex! You just took off without us! Think you're better than us, huh?" Sheba yelled at him. Alex scratched his head. "Well, that's not exactly what happened…" But Jenna interrupted him. "Well, if you're to busy to wait for us, then I guess you're to busy to help us, huh?"

"But-" His protest was ignored and the two girls flounced off. Felix just shrugged at him, and followed them.

---

Alex wandered the eastern beaches of the continent, searching for a ship. There were none to be had. It seemed that any ship that was around before was either lost or destroyed in the tidal wave. He sighed. _This could make things difficult…_

He walked onto an unexplored beach. The most distinctive feature of this particular beach was the huge ship occupying it. Alex grinned, and scrambled towards the ship. _It looks just like Menardi's ship, too!_

As he climbed aboard, he marveled at the magnificent boat. He grabbed the tiller, and spun it around a few times, pretending that he was sailing. He was so giddy with his findings that he didn't even notice someone coming up behind him with a knife.

Piers looked down at the man he stabbed. It wasn't every day that you saw non-Lemurians with blue hair. Or at, least, that's what he thought. He really hadn't seen any foreigners other than the man he just killed. Piers shrugged. The guy tried to steal his ship. He picked up the body and tossed it over the side of the boat.

Alex opened his eyes. _In the water, again?_ He sat up and pulled the knife out of his back. He watched as a blue-haired man climbed down from the ship and walked toward the beach. _He must have stabbed me…_ Alex thought that was a little harsh. He just wanted to play with the ship. He would never actually _steal_ one. He stood and followed the other man at a distance so he wouldn't be seen. Alex laughed vindictively when a group of soldiers jumped out at the man and dragged him off.

---

Alex walked up behind Felix and his friends. _They won't pick on me this time!_

"Ahem," he coughed. "Hello, Felix." The four adepts turned to face Alex. "How is everyone doing?" Jenna glared at him. "What do you think you're doing here, Alex?"

"Just coming to see how your quest is going," he said innocently. The blue-haired man traveling with Felix squinted at Alex. "What's wrong, Piers?" Sheba asked him.

"He seems familiar…" Piers replied.

"Ah, yes, I think we've met before. Before you were arrested." Alex smiled. A light came on in Piers' eyes. "Oh, yes, I remember you…" he trailed off. "Wait…I killed you! You were dead!" Alex shrugged. "You're not the first." They stared blankly at them. "Anyways…" he said, as Karst emerged from another section of Champa.

"Hello, kiddies," she said. They all turned to look at her. "And me too," came a voice from their other side. The group spun to see Karst's partner. They looked shocked to see him. Alex smiled. "What, you haven't been introduced to Agatio?"

Karst shook her head. "He stayed on the ship when I met them in Madra."

"Oh. Well, anywho, we just came to give you a little encouragement on your mission." Alex said. Sheba shook her staff at him. "Are you threatening us, Alex?"

"No! No, nothing like that! It's just-"

Now Karst was glaring at him. "So, you just wanted us to flex some muscle a bit to get these kids moving." Alex shrugged. "Take it how you want." Karst scowled. "Fine." Alex turned back to Felix and nodded. Then he walked off, with Karst and Agatio in tow.

When they were out of Champa, Karst whispered to Agatio, "Do we really need him bossing us around?" Agatio shook his head. "Probably not…"

"Then, would you mind if…" Agatio smiled. "Feel free to do the honors."

Alex heard the whisperings behind him and turned around. The only thing he saw was a fireball coming strait at him.

A few minutes later, Alex sat up and licked his finger to put out a few strands of his hair that were still smoldering. He laughed and jumped up, scattering some burnt skin and clothes and ran after the two Proxians.

---

Alex watched as Felix and co. approached his hiding spot. _Well, it's now or never_. He teleported a few feet over and said, "I've been waiting for you." Felix jumped in surprise and turned around. Quickly, Alex used some Psynergy to heal the four of them, then urged them off to go help the other Adepts that were being mauled by Agatio and Karst.

When they were gone, he teleported to the bridge below and watched the confrontation. He made sure he was in a spot where he couldn't be seen, lest Karst decide to kill him again. Just because he didn't die doesn't mean it wasn't painful to be killed. He looked up to see Mia and Garet on the precarious outcrop. His heart melted. He wanted to save her, even though she had already killed him once. It was worth the risk. He waited until the Proxians, Felix and Piers headed for the aerie, then teleported to where Mia was. "Mia!" he exclaimed. Mia spun and screamed. "Ahh!!", then threw her hands out in front of her in surprise. She accidentally bump Alex off the edge, and he fell from the lighthouse. _Oh, please let it end!_

Mia looked down over the edge. "Oops…Sorry!" she shouted after him. Garet looked up at her from where he was hanging. "Nice job, clumsy." She glared at him. "Oh, look who's talking!"

Alex hit the ground with a thud, then jumped to his feet. He didn't even bother to go black this time. Why bother with the theatrics? He sighed, and warped to the lighthouse aerie. He saw Karst and Agatio lying on the ground looking defeated, with Felix and his friends standing nearby. Jenna pointed at him. "You…you fell off the lighthouse!" Alex gave her a grin. "Well, maybe I can fly." He turned to the Proxians and healed them enough so that they could stand, but not enough that they would be able to attack him. Karst looked angry enough to kill. "I will strait up…murder your ass," she snarled at him. "Just you wait." Alex showed her his most innocent smile.

---

Agatio and Karst walked behind Alex on their way to the Mars Lighthouse, conspiring with one another. "You know, we really don't need him anymore. We have the Mars Star, the Lighthouse is right here in front of us, and he no longer has anything to offer." Karst said. Agatio nodded. "You are right. Not to mention, he betrayed us back at the Jupiter Lighthouse." Karst grinned evilly, but Agatio stopped her from doing anything. "Remember what happened the last time? He came back! We try something else. Something more drastic." He looked around. Then he smiled, and ran off. Karst scratched her head, then followed.

"Alex! Over here! Look what I found!" Agatio yelled. Alex turned to look at the two, then slowly walked over to them. _Here we go_, he thought. As he went towards them, he noticed the void at the edge of the world, eating away at the land. Then he tripped over something and went falling off into space.

Karst pulled her foot back as they watched Alex disappear into the void. She laughed. "That should take car of him!" The two hurried off to the Mars Lighthouse.

---

A short while later, Alex landed on the top of Mount Aleph. _Why me?_ he thought. He clambered to his feet and looked around. He noticed a golden light forming around him. _Ooh, pretty, _he thought. He was feeling pretty good about himself. Then he looked up and saw the rock. "Who're you?" he asked. The rock looked at him with its one eye and somehow managed to speak. "I am the Wise One."

"Are you going to kill me?" he asked.

"No. I cannot, now that you have the power of the Golden Sun."

"The whowhat?" Then, the mountain began to shake. "Ahh!" he screamed.

"Alex, you must get off the mountain before it sinks into the ground! You might die!" He shrugged and looked at the mountain. "Hahaha! Give me your best shot!" he yelled at it as it sank down. As the ground closed over on top of him, he noticed that it was getting hard to breathe. _Man, it's really dark down here…_

And that was the last thing he knew.

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Well, tell me what you think! I didn't really know how to end it, but if you give me ideas, I'll make changes. I wasn't sure what to categorize this as, since it's not serious, but it's not really humor, either.


End file.
